Tributes have been paid to academic Lisa Jardine, following her death from cancer at the age of 71.

Historian Jardine was professor of renaissance studies at University College London, a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Society this year.

She was a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum for eight years and served as chair of the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) from 2008 to 2014. She established the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London.

She was the author of many books, attracting a large audience among both the scholarly community and the general reading public, including works on Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, Sir Christopher Wren and the natural philosopher and architect Robert Hooke.

Historian Lord (Peter) Hennessy, who was her colleague at Queen Mary's, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The word polymath is over-used, but Lisa was a polymath. She was a natural swimmer in both the scientific stream and the arts and humanities stream. She bedazzled her generation. She had an inspirational effect."

The Government's chief scientific adviser Professor Sir Mark Walport told Today: "She was a brilliant communicator. Life, I think, is very much what we make of it, and she really made the most of her life.

"Her work at the HFEA was enormously important because she brought together the science with the public engagement and the debate about the ethics. She was an inspiring leader."